Breathe: Alternate 10th Chapter
by Yasuo Yamada Kamiya
Summary: The alternate ending to the story written and owned by wooZy Jack.


BREATHE: ALTERNATE 10TH CHAPTER

"Breathe" was written and is owned by wooZy Jack.

Just then, a group of doctors came in. They led Honoka and the others out. "Move it. We've got a job to do here."

Honoka was slightly confused. "Job?"

The doctor said, "We're going to operate on her. I just pray the operation works…"

As Honoka watched, the doctors removed Nagisa from the room. Just from two things she knew, Nagisa wasn't dead. Not yet, anyway.

First, she hadn't been covered with a sheet. Honoka was smart enough to know that patients only had sheets covering their bodies if they had already died. Second, the doctor had said something about operating on Nagisa.

As she watched the doctors take Nagisa to the emergency room, Honoka said to herself, "I hope she makes it through the operation alive…"

Once inside the emergency room, the doctors carefully lifted Nagisa and put her on the operating table. Around the operating table, there were several makeshift beds and spare blood donation pumpers. The leader of the surgeons said, "Raise your hand if you have Type O."

Eight hands went up.

For the most part, the operation went smoothly. However, a lot of blood ended up having to be drained out of her. At one point as the surgeons were donating their blood, she flatlined once, but luckily it was only a cardiac flatline, and the doctors were able to revive her via chest compression.

In the interim, though, time seemed to slow down for her, and a light clouded her vision.

She was in her lacrosse uniform, but she had no idea how she went from her hospital gown to that. It might just be a dream, she thought to herself, but it was too real! Suddenly, she noticed a bunch of people with lacrosse sticks floating around and trying to catch a ball that seemingly defied gravity.

Her jaw dropped in shock. "Arienai..."

One of the players yelled, "Nagisa! Come join us!"

She asked herself, "How did she know my name? Ah, well. Since it's something I enjoy…"

She picked up a floating lacrosse stick and joined in the game. The opposing midfielder was running past, having caught the ball. However, a defense player did some positioning, and Nagisa saw her opportunity. Catching the ball, she carried it across and passed it past the goalkeeper with a mighty heave. Goal!

Unknown to her, she had failed to take into account the lack of gravity in these parts. She sailed over the goal and fell into a seemingly bottomless pit. The other players ran to the goal. "Nagisa?"

Down she went, falling through clouds at great distance. As she fell, she saw a familiar green shade below, and a building atop the shade.

She fell through the roof.

The flatline beep stopped. Her heart was once again beating, but it was beating slowly. The doctors stopped compressing her chest.

Hours later, the Misumi family, Honoka, Hikari, and Fuji-P were waiting for the news about the operation in the waiting room. Then the doctors, led by the Misumi family doctor, emerged.

"Mrs. Misumi," the doctor said, "I'm sorry."

Ryota was about to burst into tears as his mother fainted. The doctor continued, "We had to resort to an operation the likes of which has never before been attempted. I hypothesized that the one way we could cure her was if we used a special X-ray to locate the cancer, track the cancer, bleed it out of her system, and had those among us with a compatible blood type donate some of their blood. It took some effort, but I've got some good news."

The doctors cleared a path gradually as Nagisa, in a wheelchair, was wheeled over to her family by another doctor. She saw her mother on the floor following a fainting spell. "Are you all right?"

Her mother slowly recovered. "Nagisa…" she said, "how do you feel?"

Nagisa replied, "Somewhat dizzy at the moment, but after the operation, I was subjected to a final tests to see if there was any more of the cancer in my system. To everyone's relief, I tested negative."

Honoka ran over to Nagisa and embraced her. This alarmed her, and she said, "Not too hard, Honoka."

The doctor at the wheelchair said, "You heard her. She needs some time to recuperate after the operation. Doctor's orders."

Honoka loosened her grip and said, "I'm just relieved to see you're all right."

Nagisa said, "Yeah, when I came to after the operation and before the final tests, my doctor told me that I had a one in a million chance of having survived the operation, and a one in five million chance of testing negative for cancer afterwards. I guess today's my lucky day."

The doctor smiled and said, "You don't know how lucky. In a few days, you'll be out of here."

Her mother said, "Thank you, sir, for taking such a huge gamble to save my daughter."

The doctor shook her hand and said, "I'm glad I could be of help."

It would be several months before Nagisa could return to the sport she knew and loved, and a full year before she would be back in competitive shape, but once she was able to return to the world of lacrosse, she made the most of it.

She had spent a good part of her recovery reading many books, instructional or otherwise, about the sport, so as to be able to remember once she was able to return, and one of the first classes she took in high school was a health class. Once she was able to, she got together with her friends from the Verone Academy lacrosse team, including Shiho and Rina, at the park every Sunday for lacrosse practice.

One such Sunday, during a break in the practice session, she smiled and said to herself, "If only Honoka could see me now…"

Gazing skyward, and grateful to still be alive, she said, "I never thought I'd still be here today."

Shiho and Rina ran over to where she was standing. Shiho asked, "Why are you smiling?"

Nagisa said, "It's just… today's just as good a day to enjoy nature as it is to play sports."

The two didn't understand what she said. "Seriously, though, get back to your places, you two. When I start competing again in a few months, I want to be in tip-top shape. Verone Academy's lacrosse team depended on me for nearly three years; now, I want my high school's lacrosse team to think highly of me and my skills. Now let's get moving!"

The two returned to their positions. Shiho asked, "You ready?"

Nagisa said, "You bet!"


End file.
